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Aaron Goodrich
Aaron Goodrich (6 July 1807 – 2 June 1887) was an American lawyer, jurist and diplomat. Biography Goodrich was born in Sempronius, New York in 1807. In 1815, the family moved to a farm in western New York state, where Aaron attended country school and read law books with enthusiasm. At about age 20, he moved to Tennessee, completed his studies, and began practising the law.Biographies of Judges and Justices of the Minnesota Appellate Courts He was a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1847-1849. He was appointed as Chief Justice of Minnesota Supreme Court on March 19, 1849 by President Zachary Taylor.58 U.S. 284 He presided over the first court session in Stillwater, Minnesota Territory in August 1849, deciding 60 cases in six days.Building Location Details However, he failed to see out his four-year term. Several prominent Minnesota attorneys demanded Goodrich be removed for "incompetency, unfitness and improprieties committed on and off the bench,"MPR: Appellate court judge charged with swindling woman in 1851.MPR: For the Record After a failed attempt at impeachment, President Millard Fillmore used his executive power to remove Goodrich from office; Goodrich subsequently took the matter to court in an attempt to obtain the salary for the remainder of his term. He was a freemason,Grand Lodge Of Minnesota and in July 1849, became one of the founding members of the local Masonic Lodge (Saint Paul Lodge Number Three http://www.saintpaullodge.org).[http://www.saintpaullodge.org Saint Paul Lodge Number Three - Minnesota's Oldest Masonic Lodge] He was also a unionist, and anti-abolitionist,Tennessee State Library and Archives: History and Genealogy - Manuscript Materials on Microfilm 100 - 199 and a founding member of Minnesota Historical SocietyMinnesota Prehistory and Minnesota Republican Party.Twin Cities Liver: History of St. Paul Street Names Goodrich was a Minnesota delegate to the 1860 Republican National Convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln, but cast his vote for William H. Seward.Welcome to the home of the Goodrich Family Association - Person Page 153 At Seward's behest, See footnote 45 at http://www.lib.rochester.edu/index.cfm?PAGE=470 Goodrich was appointed Secretary of the United States legation in Brussels, Belgium, by President Lincoln in 1861, remaining there until 1868. He died on 2 June 1887, and his body was interred at a graveyard in Genesee County, Michigan. Memorials *Goodrich Avenue, St Paul, Minnesota. F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald lived at 626 Goodrich Avenue from 1921-22 during which time their daughter was born and F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote his novel The Beautiful and the Damned. *The Goodrich campus at St. Paul Academy and Summit School, located at 1150 Goodrich Avenue, St Paul, Minnesota. *Goodrich cemetery in Genesee County, Michigan Goodrich Cemetery References Sources *Biography of Aaron Goodrich *Pederson, Kern. Makers of Minnesota. St. Paul: Minnesota Territorial Centennial (1949) *Political Graveyard biography * * * * On pp. 143–147 Carl Schurz, then a Wisconsin politician and a recent (1852) immigrant from Prussia, relates his 1859 experiences campaigning on behalf of state office seekers in Minnesota in partnership with Judge Goodrich, who he referred to as “one of those ‘originals’ who at that time seemed to abound in the new country.” Category:1807 births Category:1887 deaths Category:People from Cayuga County, New York Category:Members of the Tennessee House of Representatives Category:Minnesota Territory judges Category:Minnesota lawyers